You'll pay a $3,000 gas guzzler tax. Driving hard will surely return fuel economy lower than the Environmental Protection Agency’s rating of 12 miles per gallon in the city and 17 on the highway on the required premium gas. I’ll be passing the hat to cover my expenses there.

On Tuesday the Yankees promoted two Tylers — Wade and Webb — to the majors. That gave the team four on the active roster, joining Clippard and Austin, and swelled our ranks to 30. That’s right: in the last two seasons, 30 players who go by Tyler or Ty have appeared in a major league game.

Why it matters: The yawning gap between U.S. haves and have nots is only growing more severe, and there are no signs that the trend will slow on its own. These are the numbers Bernie Sanders studied before wagering that the Democratic Party's path to electoral success is through aggressive economic populism.

The state Controlled Substance Board, in reaction to acryl fentanyl deaths in Milwaukee County, announced an emergency rule last month classifying the opioid as a Schedule 1 drug.
The board can schedule a controlled substance analog on an emergency basis when it determines such action "is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety." A Schedule 1 drug is defined by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as a substance "with no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse."

Here's how Feckless Leader initially proposed to deal with the problem in his first budget.

But on Friday, President Trump’s administration revealed plans to gut the 2018 budget of his Office of National Drug Control Policy. According to an Office of Management and Budget document obtained by The New York Times, the White House is proposing to slash the drug policy office budget by about 95 percent, to just $24 million from $388 million.

In January 2016, Seattle’s minimum wage jumped from $11 an hour to $13 for large employers, the second big increase in less than a year. New research released Monday by a team of economists at the University of Washington suggests the wage hike may have come at a significant cost: The increase led to steep declines in employment for low-wage workers, and a drop in hours for those who kept their jobs.

Meet one of the author's of the study. Is there, by any chance, the possibility of an inherent bias here?

The origin, according to Know Your Phrase:
The phrase's origins apparently come from a time where the word jig was slang for a trick. Additionally, the Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, by Robert Hendrickson, states that this expression was used during Elizabethan times (mid-to-late 16th century), where the word jig became slang for a practical joke or trick. Thus, if "the jig was up," it meant your trick was found out, or exposed.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

As of June 21, 2017, Ballotpedia had confirmed that 60 of Alabama's 67 counties would issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Seven counties would not issue marriage licenses regardless of sex at that time.

Perhaps nowhere has the health care law had as powerful an impact as in Kentucky, where nearly one in three people now receive coverage through Medicaid, expanded under the legislation. Perhaps no region in Kentucky has benefited as much as Appalachia, the impoverished eastern part of the state, where in some counties more than 60 percent of people are covered by Medicaid.

Mission accomplished!The Iowa Legislature's 2017 session, which convenes in January, could mark the first time since 1998 that Republicans have had majorities in both the Senate and House and held the governor's office at the same time. This will give the GOP full control over the state budget and legislative policies and eliminates the possibility that Democrats can block conservative bills.

A behind-closed-doors conference call with 29 Iowa Senate Republicans. Walker sent a tweet after the meeting which said, "Happy to speak to my friends in the Iowa Legislature via Skype. They have a chance to pass big, bold reforms!"

Mr. McConnell, the chief author of the Senate repeal bill, can afford to lose only two of the 52 Republican senators, but more than a half-dozen have, for widely divergent reasons, expressed deep reservations about the bill.

Putting the cart before the horse. Fitzgerald said the Senate Republican caucus plans to meet Wednesday to discuss the possibility of passing the budget bill before JFC wraps up its work, something that has never happened.

GOP legislators in a pissy mood. Senate and Assembly Republican leaders were supposed to meet all day Tuesday to iron out their differences on the new, two-year state budget ahead of a July 1 deadline.
Instead, they met for less than 45 minutes before ending abruptly, then aired their frustrations about an escalating budget impasse.

The NRCC is plotting to take a seat for which they couldn't field a candidate in 2016. Democrat Ron Kind has represented the Wisconsin 3rd since 1998.Clinton won 44.8% of the presidential vote compared to 49.3% for Trump. It won't translate to a GOP in 2018.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Views on same-sex marriage have shifted dramatically in recent years. As recently as 2010, more Americans opposed (48%) than favored (42%) allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally. In the past year alone, support has increased seven percentage points: In March 2016, 55% favored same-sex marriage, while 37% were opposed.

During the 2016 election, Trump flip-flopped on the subject of marriage equality numerous times. After claiming that he would appoint justices to erase the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage ruling, the president told Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes that he would use the bully pulpit to target the ruling. Trump, who said his personal view on same-sex marriage is “irrelevant,” claimed the case “was already settled.”

Original 5/13/2016 post, "Moving into the 21st century: Public opinion on same-sex marriage". starts here.

As far as percentages are concerned, the Silent Generation made the greatest progress toward acceptance from 2001 to 2010.

The drop of 3 percentage points in Gen X acceptance from 2015 to 2016 should be taken with a grain of salt, as this cohort's acceptance increased 6 percentage points, from 53% to 59% from 2014 to 2015.

Baby Boomers have been treading water on this issue for the past 3 years of Pew surveys.

In short, the CBO estimates suggest that the Senate bill neither repeals nor repairs ObamaCare. But it does cap federal health spending in order to cut taxes for corporations and high-income individuals.

As a result of redistricting after the 2010 federal census, Washington gained a 10th House seat, which has been represented by Democrat Denny Heck. He has won his 3 elections by an average margin of 14.7 percentage points.Clinton won 51.3% of the presidential vote compared to 39.9% for Trump.